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Does anyone have a pad? TV is finally dismantling the period taboo

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Recently, a menstrual pad brand Libra launched their Blood Normal commercial in Australia, running it during prime time television shows including The Bachelor, The Project, and Gogglebox. Australia is a little late to the party: Blood Normal first ran in the UK and Europe in October 2017 and won the </span><a href="https://adage.com/article/special-report-cannes-lions/libresse-s-blood-normal-takes-glass-lions-grand-prix-cannes/313993"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Grand Prix at Cannes</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in 2018 for its de-stigmatised depiction of menstruation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Breaking new ground in menstrual product advertising terms, the ad has received most attention for </span><a href="https://www.vcg.emitto.net/index.php/vcg/article/view/114"><span style="font-weight: 400;">showing menstrual blood as red</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and on the inside of a woman’s thigh, rather than as the bizarre blue liquid we’ve seen for decades being squirted onto a pad by someone in a lab coat.</span></p> <p><strong>Busting period stigmas</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ad bombards us with a rapid fire array of stigma-busting micro-dramas featuring fashionable young people (some of whom are well-known European cultural influencers). A hip boyfriend (Swedish fashion blogger Julian Hernandez) buys pads in the local supermarket; a young woman (French activist Victoire Dauxerre) stands up and asks “Does anyone have a pad?” across a dinner table of hipsters; a university student walks into a public toilet carrying a wrapped pad openly in her hand; a woman’s fingers type: “I am having a very heavy period and will be working from home today”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unpacking the ad reveals a combination of the old and the new in menstruation ad-land. There is the tired old trope of the menstruating woman engaging in boisterous and fun physical activity, echoing the freedom message of women dressed in (improbable) white, riding horses and motorbikes in ads from the 1960s on.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In Blood Normal though, the notion that a menstruating woman can do anything is taken into more intimate territory, with a scene of a couple having (gentle) period sex. A woman shown at the swimming pool looks serene and thoughtful, more as if she is taking time out for self-care than trying to prove menstruation doesn’t make any difference in her life and that she is as non-cyclical as a man.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The modern-day stance that menstruation should be suppressed emerged from the second wave feminist need to assert women’s equal rights within a still-masculinised world.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Where Blood Normal really breaks ground is by presenting all the moods and moments of the menstrual experience, including the pain and the turning inward. It also does a brilliant job of showing the sweetness of getting and giving support within a sisterhood and brotherhood, in an idealised setting in which everyone is menstrually-aware.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This vision may be nearer than we might think: the characters in Blood Normal are in their teens and 20s and recent reports indicate this generation is rapidly shifting in terms of menstrual norms. Young women are reporting much higher interest in </span><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-periods-became-big-business-txldjd9gq"><span style="font-weight: 400;">menstrual cycle awareness</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">and it is now one of the “</span><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mindful-menstruation-sound-bathing-and-meditation-raves-these-are-the-biggest-wellness-trends-for-autumn-9wc2pqs5t"><span style="font-weight: 400;">biggest wellness trends</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In Australia, talkback radio reflected this shift, picking up on suggestions of </span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/should-we-have-paid-period-leave/10090848"><span style="font-weight: 400;">menstrual leave</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Celebrity Yumi Styne’s book for first-time menstruators </span><a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/welcome-to-your-period-by-yumi-stynes/9781760503512"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Welcome to Your Period</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was published this month.</span></p> <p><strong>Menstruation is big business</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite this ad being touted by its makers as a public service, we cannot forget the corporate </span><a href="https://www.rienner.com/title/Capitalizing_on_the_Curse_The_Business_of_Menstruation"><span style="font-weight: 400;">profit-driven self-interest</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">involved in menstrual product ad construction. Recent </span><a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/05/20/1828964/0/en/Global-Feminine-Hygiene-Products-Market-2018-2019-Forecast-to-2023.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">valuations</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of the “global feminine hygiene product” market (of which around 50% is menstrual pads), vary from US$20.6 billion (A$30.5 billion) to US$37.5 billion (A$55.5 billion), with projections of US$52 billion (A$77 billion) by 2023.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">High profit margins along with environmental devastation are contained within those figures. Disposable products use up resources, clog landfill sites, and pollute oceans. In the past, manufacturers have been less than honest about product safety, such as in the infamous Rely tampon </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Toxic-Shock-Social-History-Biopolitics-ebook/dp/B07C5G1YD3/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=toxic+shock+sharra+vostral&amp;qid=1566531841&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Toxic Shock Syndrome scandal</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Menstrual product advertising has been shown to increase </span><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23293691.2018.1556428"><span style="font-weight: 400;">self-objectification</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and has cynically exploited and added to anxiety surrounding leaks and smells.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There’s a massive gulf between the sweet and loving world of the Libra ad and the uncomfortable reality of the disposable menstrual product industry.</span></p> <p><strong>More work to do</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, why now? Why has it taken the disposable menstrual product industry almost a hundred years to talk about menstruation as normal and in terms that actually match lived experience, rather than as an unspeakable problem that their products will absorb and conceal, allowing the menstruator to “pass” as a </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Under-Wraps-History-Menstrual-Technology/dp/0739113852"><span style="font-weight: 400;">non-menstruator</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The answer partly lies in the process of cultural change: things take time, and menstrual stigma was a big chunk of patriarchal power relations for feminism to tackle. It also lies in the influence of the new “femtech”: new cycle tracking apps, and reusable pads, period underwear, and menstrual cups made using new technologies. These innovations are reshaping menstrual experience in ways that disrupt self-objectification based on stigma, while replacing it with new forms of control through data collection.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Blood Normal is a great ad campaign, and yes, menstrual stigma is being dismantled. But we’re not there yet. When all women have access to reusable, sustainable menstrual products; when menstrual self-care becomes a cultural norm in homes, schools and workplaces; when women feel free not only to jump around when bleeding, but to live with the cycle rather than against or in spite of it … then we’ll be there.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Written by Lara Owen. Republished with permission of </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/does-anyone-have-a-pad-tv-is-finally-dismantling-the-period-taboo-122258"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Conversation.</span></a></p>

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What consumers need to know about Facebook’s new cryptocurrency

<p>Cryptocurrencies have become a global phenomenon in the past few years. Now Facebook is launching it’s own cryptocurrency, in association with Visa, MasterCard, Uber and others. The stated aim of<span> </span><a href="https://libra.org/en-US/">Libra</a><span> </span>is to “enable a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people”.</p> <p>The announcement has sparked fears that Libra could be<span> </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/facebooks-libra-plan-talk-of-the-demise-of-central-banks-is-greatly-exaggerated-119165">a threat to traditional banks</a>, warnings to be<span> </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/libra-four-reasons-to-be-extremely-cautious-about-facebooks-new-currency-119123">cautious</a>, and<span> </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/facebook-claims-libra-offers-economic-empowerment-to-billions-an-economist-is-skeptical-118982">sceptical commentary</a><span> </span>of claims that it will help developing countries.</p> <p>But let’s go back to the basics and look at what Libra is, how it compares to other cryptocurrencies and whether you should be concerned about using it when it eventually arrives.</p> <p><strong>What is a cryptocurrency?</strong></p> <p>Currency is a system of money that is commonly used in exchange for goods and services and, as a result, holds value. Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that are secured using cryptography.</p> <p>The more popular recent cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology which uses a cryptographic structure that is difficult to change. One of the key properties of this structure is a distributed ledger that keeps account of financial transactions, which anyone can access.</p> <p><strong>What is Libra?</strong></p> <p>Libra is a new currency that is being proposed by Facebook. It’s considered a cryptocurrency because cryptography will be used to help protect the value of the currency from tampering – such as double spending – and to protect the payment process.</p> <p>Libra has the potential to become successful because of the backing from the<span> </span><a href="https://libra.org/en-US/association-council-principles/#overview">Libra Association</a>, which is made up of large international corporations such as Facebook, Uber and Vodafone. MasterCard and Visa have also thrown their hats in the ring, but no traditional banks are on the list.</p> <p><strong>What’s different about Libra compared with other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin?</strong></p> <p>Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are quite egalitarian in nature. That’s because there is no single authority that verifies transactions between parties, so anyone could potentially do it.</p> <p>To authorise a Bitcoin transaction you would have to prove that you have done the work, known as a “<a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_work">proof of work</a>”. For Bitcoin, the proof of work is to solve a mathematical puzzle. People who successfully solve the puzzle (proving they have done some work), can add transactions to the blockchain distributed ledger and are rewarded with Bitcoins. The process is known as mining.</p> <p>The good thing about this is that it reduces fraud. Since anyone can potentially mine Bitcoins, it’s harder to collude as you wouldn’t know who the next person to mine a coin would be. And it’s simple to verify that the person is authorised because anyone can check that the puzzle has been solved correctly.</p> <p>Based on the<span> </span><a href="https://mashable.com/article/facebook-libra-deep-dive/">initial descriptions of the currency</a>, it sounds like the difference with Libra is that it will verify transactions using a consensus system known as “<a href="https://blockgeeks.com/guides/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake/">proof of stake</a>”, or a variation of this method. Under this system, transactions would be authorised by a group of people who have a stake or ownership in the currency.</p> <p>This makes it easier to predict who the next person to authorise a transaction might be (since there are a relatively small number of authorising group members), and then collude to launder funds without other group members knowing.</p> <p>It<span> </span><a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/06/18/how-to-become-a-founding-member-of-the-libra-association/">appears</a><span> </span>the criteria to become a founding member of the Libra Association is to contribute a minimum of US$10 million entrance fee, have a large amount of money in the bank and be able to influence a large number of people.</p> <p><strong>What are banks and regulators worried about?</strong></p> <p>Cryptocurrencies affect governments and tax systems since they have little to no transaction costs when money is transferred across borders. So while the low transaction costs would be good for everyday users, the advent of a new cryptocurrency with a potentially very large user base has governments and traditional banks very concerned.</p> <p>While Libra is open source – meaning the source code is available for all to view, use and modify – it’s the members of the association who will be overseeing the currency. Libra could herald a shift away from traditional government taxes and banking fees to a new international monetary system controlled by corporate entities like Facebook and Uber. That’s a concern because of the lack of oversight from regulatory bodies.</p> <p><strong>What should everyday people expect from Libra?</strong></p> <p>The backing of software giants means it’s likely that the user interface for Libra coins would be smooth and simple to use.</p> <p>Low transaction costs would benefit users and the Libra Association promises to control the value of the currency so that it does not fluctuate as much as other cryptocurrencies. It’s unclear how they plan to do this. But value stability would be a great advantage in times of uncertainty.</p> <p><strong>What are the risks?</strong></p> <p>The everyday consumer probably wouldn’t know the difference between the “proof of work” and the “proof of stake” mechanisms. But since Facebook has a large database of users that are known to use Libra, it may be able to link Libra transactions to individuals. This could be a privacy concern. (Bitcoin transactions are anonymous because account numbers used in Bitcoin transactions are not linked to an individual’s identity.)</p> <p>Recent cybersecurity<span> </span><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/australians-private-details-exposed-in-attack-on-westpac-s-payid-20190603-p51u2u.html">breaches</a><span> </span>have contributed to a growing awareness of the vulnerabilities of IT systems. As with all software, the Libra implementation and management could be vulnerable to attack, which in turn could mean users could lose their money. But that is a risk that all cryptocurrency users face, whether they are aware of it or not.</p> <p><strong>What steps could consumers take to protect themselves?</strong></p> <p>No matter what cryptocurrency you choose to use, your funds are still accessible through the same interfaces: a web page or a mobile app. And the way you control access to your personal funds is by authenticating with a password.</p> <p>Make sure you keep your password safe by making sure it is complicated and hard to guess. Look for applications that allow you to use two-factor authentication and make sure it’s turned on.</p> <p>Libra is yet to prove its claims of making financial transactions safe and convenient. Only time will tell if its uptake will become widespread following its expected launch next year.</p> <p><em>Written by Ernest Foo. Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/the-lowdown-on-libra-what-consumers-need-to-know-about-facebooks-new-cryptocurrency-119391" target="_blank">The Conversation.</a></em></p>

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